Rural round-up

•59% of exporters confident about next 12 months orders
•Currency number 1 challenge
•Australia and China biggest opportunity and threat
•Online the key to export future

New Zealand exporter confidence is up despite the strong kiwi dollar, as exporters focus on factors they can control and deploy strategies ranging from importing to focusing on the online environment.

The ninth annual DHL Export Barometer survey found that 59% of New Zealand exporters are confident that export orders will increase in the next 12 months. This is an increase from last year where confidence was at an all-time low (51%) in the history of the survey. . .

Water will need to play a big part if the Government’s plan to double agriculture’s value to $60 billion by 2025 is to be successful, Federated Farmers president Bruce Wills says.

New Zealand had plenty of water, but in many areas there was not enough water at the right time of the year. To solve this the building of water storage facilities must be encouraged, he said.

“If farmers are going to meet the Government’s growth agenda of doubling agricultural receipts by 2025 from $30b to $60b then water must form an integral part of this success,” said Wills at National Fieldays at Mystery Creek. . .

NZ Banking Group chief executive Mike Smith says China is about to do for Australian farmers what it did for the country’s miners a decade ago.

But he also added his voice to a building chorus of calls for Australia to follow New Zealand’s lead and sign a free trade agreement with China to make the most of the growing demand for agricultural goods.

While everyone is talking about the end of the minerals boom – something he disagrees with – Smith said insufficient attention had been paid to the potential surge in Chinese demand for soft commodities, such as grain and meat. . .

MEMBERS of the Farming Champions movement met with Agriculture and Food Minister Ken Baston last week to discuss the challenges facing the agricultural industry.

Kukerin farmer Mary Nenke, Varley farmer and former CWA president Margaret Sullivan and communications adviser Cate Rocchi, provided the minister with a perspective on the current shape of the agricultural industry.

All three women were heavily involved with the movement through the recent ‘Farmer on Your Plate – Getting Agriculture Back on the Political menu’ held in the Perth CBD earlier this year and the renowned Facebook group ‘Alarming Farming’. . .